Hi guys, we have R.J. Scott stopping by today with the tour for her new audio release What Lies Beneath, We have a fantastic What Lies Beneath Audio Code giveaway so check out the post and enter that giveaway! ❤️ ~Pixie~
What Lies Beneath
(Lancaster Falls 01)
by
Narrator: Sean Crisden
R.J. Scott
In the hottest summer on record, Iron Lake reservoir is emptying, revealing secrets that were intended to stay hidden beneath the water.
Best Selling Horror writer Chris Lassiter struggles for inspiration and he’s close to never writing again. His life has become an endless loop of nothing but empty pages, personal appearances, and a marketing machine that is systematically destroying his muse. In a desperate attempt to force Chris to complete unfinished manuscripts his agent buys a remote cabin. All Chris has to do is hide away and write, but he’s lost his muse, and not even he can make stories appear from thin air.
Sawyer Wiseman left town for Chicago, chasing the excitement and potential of being a big city cop, rising the ranks, and making his mark. A case gone horribly wrong draws him back to Lancaster Falls. Working for the tiny police department in the town he’d been running from, digging into cold cases and police corruption, he spends his day’s healing, and his nights hoping the nightmares of his last case leave him alone.
Blurb:Reeling from the painful rejection of a man he thought he loved, Asher is left holding the baby.
Ash wants a family, and is determined to continue with a surrogacy he’d begun with his ex. Bringing baby Mia home, he vows that he will be the best father he can be. Nothing in this world matters more to him than caring for his daughter, not even accidentally falling in lust with the doctor next door. Challenged by his growing attraction to Sean, and confronted by painful mem-ories of his family, Ash has to learn that love is all that matters.
When ER doctor Sean moves in with his friends next door to sexy, single-father Ash, he falls so quickly it takes his breath away. The sex they have is hot, but Ash is adamant his heart is too full with love for his daughter to let anyone else in. Why is Sean the only one who sees how scared Ash is, and how can he prove to his new lover that he desperately wants the three of them to become a family?
Review: Single is the first book in RJ Scott’s Single Dads series, which its pretty easy by the end of this book to see that this is following smoking hot first responders in their quest for love.
RJ Scott isn’t an unknown author to me, I’ve recently become reacquainted with her writing through hockey romances, so Single is a bit of a change of pace for me. I’ve read the book before, but I was keen to listen to the audio. I love that this is a super sweet romance that just me so many warm feelings with main characters that felt so real, so I wanted to get the audio experience too.
The narration of the story is performed by Sean Crisden. I’ve not heard of anything narrated by Crisden in what feels like a long time, so while I knew that I had enjoyed his performances in the past I couldn’t remember why. Crisden does an excellent job, and in fact his performance allowed me to enjoy Single in audio format more than I had by simply reading it. He a gentleness to his tone that suits the paternal side that comes out in Ash’s character, as well as the caring and compassionate side that comes from Sean (the character, not the narrator himself).
If you’re into hot men with babies, which is certainly a draw for many readers of romance, then this is the book (and audio book) for you.
The story is about Ash and Sean. Ash is the single dad of the story. He’s wanted children for so long and had started investigating surrogacy with his ex. When his ex leaves just as the surrogate got pregnant, Ash is left on his own. It was not a rosy picture to begin with. Ash had so much support from his twin sister after his daughter had been born, but he now he had to get back into his own home and start a routine for him and Mia. He’s stressed and sleep deprived, and so when one night he has his new, albeit drunken, neighbour banging on his front door one night when he finally got Mia to sleep, Ash is pissed off.
That drunken neighbour was one of the three very single men who moved next door, who Ash hasn’t met at all yet. His friends wrangle him after it was clear that the he stumbled to Ash’s place because the homes look so alike. This is how he meets the other two neighbours, but it’s Sean who is immediately captured by his new neighbour.
Sean is an ER doctor, not the most glamourous of first responders, but he is a doctor, and in romances where all us fickle people swoon over certain types, a doctor is certainly up there. Sean is instantly attracted to Ash, but is going to have a difficult time to make it through the man’s defences. First because of the awkward introduction to each other, and then later because Ash is completely stressed out trying to be the best dad in the world.
And while love isn’t instantaneous, these guys slowly get to know each other, which Mia in the mix. That is what I liked the most, this wasn’t an instant happy family. They had a simmering chemistry that complimented the overall tone of the book and the characters that I really liked. It is sweet and gentle, but there is depth to the characters and some depth to their emotions (although not as much as I would want of the latter).
This was a wonderful story and the ending hints to us about book 2, which I’m totally excited for.
Hi guys, we have R.J. Scott stopping by today with the tour for her new audio release What Lies Beneath, We have a fantastic What Lies Beneath Audio Code giveaway so check out the post and enter that giveaway! ❤️ ~Pixie~
What Lies Beneath
(Lancaster Falls 01)
by
Narrator: Sean Crisden
R.J. Scott
In the hottest summer on record, Iron Lake reservoir is emptying, revealing secrets that were intended to stay hidden beneath the water.
Best Selling Horror writer Chris Lassiter struggles for inspiration and he’s close to never writing again. His life has become an endless loop of nothing but empty pages, personal appearances, and a marketing machine that is systematically destroying his muse. In a desperate attempt to force Chris to complete unfinished manuscripts his agent buys a remote cabin. All Chris has to do is hide away and write, but he’s lost his muse, and not even he can make stories appear from thin air.
Sawyer Wiseman left town for Chicago, chasing the excitement and potential of being a big city cop, rising the ranks, and making his mark. A case gone horribly wrong draws him back to Lancaster Falls. Working for the tiny police department in the town he’d been running from, digging into cold cases and police corruption, he spends his day’s healing, and his nights hoping the nightmares of his last case leave him alone.
Hi guys! We have V.L. Locey stopping by today with her new audio release Two Man Advantage, we have a brilliant giveaway so check out the post and enter the giveaway! ❤️ ~Pixie~
Two Man Advantage
(Point Shot 01)
by
Narrator: Sean Crisden
V.L. Locey
Victor Kalinski, all-star forward for the Boston Barracudas, is one of the biggest jerks in professional hockey. Before long his aggressive attitude gets him shipped off to play in the minor leagues.Furious, he takes to the ice with equal amounts of skill and scathing sarcasm, which doesn’t win him any friends—except for good-natured alternate captain Daniel Arou. He won’t take any of Vic’s crap, and he won’t take no for an answer. But Vic’s trouble-making is pulling his career one way while Dan’s talent is pushing his in the other. However much they scorch the sheets, they might soon be separated by more than Vic’s fear of being hurt.
Blurb: Kelly Cannon is satisfied with his life. He has friends, a wonderful family, and a great job. But his love life has reached a new level of pitiful. Why? Well, his heart decided to break all the rules. Don’t fall in love with a straight guy. And definitely don’t fall in love with your best friend.
NFL standout Britton “Blue” Montgomery has pressure coming at him from all sides: from his father, who’s only interested in Blue’s football career; from his coaches, who just want him to play without getting injured again; from the fans; from his agent; and from his mother, who has popped up on the radar after leaving his family years before. And now his relationship with Kelly is on shaky ground, and that frightens Blue more than anything.
When Kelly admits he’s in love with Blue, bonds are tested, and Blue has to decide what’s really important. He doesn’t want to lose the number-one person in his life, but the cost to keep Kelly close might be more than he’s willing to pay. It’s a good thing his nickname is the Blueprint – it’s time to draft a new set of plans.
Review: The Blueprint is the first book in SE Harmon’s series, Rules of Possession. I am sort of familiar with Harmon’s work but right at this moment, other than knowing that Harmon’s work doesn’t stick out in my mind as an author whose work I haven’t enjoyed in the past that was it. For me I was attracted to the fact that this was a professional sport MM romance, which I’m a sucker for.
The story starts with Kelly Cannon. He is happy with his life, except when it comes to his romantic life, because things are just not going right for him there. He can’t keep a relationship going and he knows exactly why, as do his exes. He has a boyfriend and while they are good together, he doesn’t see the man as his happily ever after, he already knows that the man tries to control him and doesn’t listen to him either. Things come to a head when Kelly is proposed to for the whole world to see and Kelly feels that he can only say yes, only to have the difficult conversation on their way home. And so, once again facing life as a single man and after an argument with the man who had so briefly been his finance, Kelly once more has to face the fact that he is in love with his best friend, a very straight NFL player. Kelly knows he needs to change his life because he knew that he would end up lonely and miserable if he keeps pining for a man that could never want him, ever. However, when he tries to make distance between himself and Blue, something in Blue snaps and he too makes some decisions about his life and Kelly’s place in it.
Blue, real name Britton Montgomery, is nicknamed Blue because his college football coach called him “The Blueprint” of the team. He is an amazing football player and even though he is getting older, he still has some years ahead of him. He is, in short, living the dream. But that changes when one night when he sees that Kelly’s boyfriend proposes to him very publicly and instead of congratulating his friend, he is left very worried about the man. Pushing himself back into Kelly’s lift starts a roller coaster that could end up very rewarding for both men, or it could the undoing of the men, professionally and/or personally.
I’ve left the narration to the end of the review on purpose. I really liked the production and the performances of this audiobook. Alexander Cendese, who I am not familiar with, narrated chapters from Kelly’s POV, while Sean Crisden, who I adore, narrated Kelly’s chapters. Both narrators did a fantastic job. Their voice and tones were matched perfectly to their characters and I happily listened to their performance all day at work. Cendese captured Kelly’s warring emotions as he tries to get himself together before things with Kelly start to change. Crisden then did an equally excellent job with the chopping emotions of Blue as he reassess himself as he comes to certain realisation regarding Kelly and how much he knows he did not want to lose Kelly from his life.
Overall, I really loved the book. It was fun, it was sexy and loved the chemistry between Blue and Kelly. I really felt the emotion and particularly felt connected to Kelly as he tries to navigate his way through love and facing the fact that he is in love with his straight best friend, before that changes once more. Yet I also felt Blue’s emotion as he is forced to reassess his personal beliefs about himself as a person. This wasn’t particularly intense or angsty, but I love how the characters have to traverse a somewhat rocky path before their happy for now ending. I look forward to the continuation of these two characters in the second book of the series.
This isn’t a gay for you book, per se, however, if you like a friends to lovers type of story, as well as the professional sports setting, this would be a great series to start.
Hi guys, we have R.J. Scott stopping by today with the tour for her new audio release Single, We have a fantastic $10 Amazon GC giveaway so check out the post and enter that giveaway! ❤️ ~Pixie~ p.s. keep an eye out for Prime’s review coming soon!
Single
(Single Dads 01)
by
Narrator: Sean Crisden
R.J. Scott
Reeling from the painful rejection of a man he thought he loved, Asher is left holding the baby.
Ash wants a family, and is determined to continue with a surrogacy he’d begun with his ex. Bringing baby Mia home, he vows that he will be the best father he can be. Nothing in this world matters more to him than caring for his daughter, not even accidentally falling in lust with the doctor next door. Challenged by his growing attraction to Sean, and confronted by painful memories of his family, Ash has to learn that love is all that matters.
When ER doctor Sean moves in with his friends next door to sexy, single-father Ash, he falls so quickly it takes his breath away. The sex they have is hot, but Ash is adamant his heart is too full with love for his daughter to let anyone else in. Why is Sean the only one who sees how scared Ash is, and how can he prove to his new lover that he desperately wants the three of them to become a family?
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (19th December 2017)
Heat Level: Low
Heart Rating: 💖💖💖💖💖 5 Hearts
Blurb: Family is not always defined by blood. It’s defined by those who make us whole – those who make us who we are.
And here, at the end, Bear and Otter will be tested like they’ve never been before.
There’s a knock at the door from a little girl who has nowhere else to go.
There’s a phone ringing, bringing news they do not expect.
There’s a brother returning home after learning how to stand on his own.
As these moments converge, all of their lives will change forever.
Beginning in Bear, Otter, and the Kid and continuing in Who We Are and The Art of Breathing, TJ Klune has told a saga of family and brotherhood, of love and sacrifice. In this final chapter, the events of the past pave the long and winding road toward a future no one could have imagined.
Review: OK, so two things: First off, TJ Klune is amazingly awesome and I love and adore anything he does, no matter how much the man makes me cry, like ugly cry so bad and I never learn my lesson and this almost always happens either on a train or a plane. The second thing is that I absolutely adore this series, Bear, Otter and the Kid was the first TJ Klune book and I have enjoyed (and laughed and cried) as I followed all the books to this one, book four which is the final book in the series.
If you’ve not read the previous books in the series, you need to read them before getting onto this book. If you’ve not been read the previous books and picked up this one, what rock have you been living under? Or I am just so obsessed (official Klunatic here) that I’m living under my own rock.
Sean Crisden has leant his voice to this series and has done an amazing job. In fact, the only book in this series he didn’t narrate was book 2. He has nailed each character, with all their quirkiness and fun intact, and essentially matches with my mental “audio images” I had imagined as I had read the actual books. I love the tone he has brought to the story and also added personality he injected into the story with just his voice. Honestly, in short, Crisden provided a solid narration.
This series is a story about life, because a lot of unpredictable shit happens – especially to poor old Bear. It celebrates the family that you create with the people that you surround yourself with. It is about finding happiness, finding a way to be able to breathe again and moving on from the horrible shit to embrace what could become great happiness. The Long and Winding Road leaves off where the Art of Breathing finished. But it also picks up from books 1 and 2. Look, it’s kinda complicated. Books 1 and 2 are about Bear and Otter. Then in book 3, The Art of Breathing, its about The Kid (Ty). Now in book 4, we are back to Bear and Otter being the central characters. With the exception the epilogues, which is written from Otter’s POV, the three books following Bear and Otter, are told from Bear’s POV.
Bear McKenna has survived the years raising his little brother after his mother split when Ty was 6 and after some initial dramas (starting in book 1) he has fallen in love with his best friend’s older brother, Otter. The pair have navigated life together, not only having the ups and downs of their own relationship, but the issues that come with raising a mentally damaged child prodigy (who happens to be a vegan terrorist). Now that Ty has grown up, Bear knows that despite expecting something bad to happen that will take away his happiness, he will do anything to make Otter happy. And part of that is having kids of their own via a surrogate. Except Bear’s mother who abandoned him and Ty has now died, and now Bear has a twelve year old sister who needs him just as Tyson had once needed him. Bear sees the parallels between his two younger siblings, and it is heartbreaking at times. However, Bear never questions what he has to do and Otter is there to support him 100%.
Bear and Ty are both mentally damaged because of their mother’s abandonment. They need a lot of help and support and the nature of this kind of things means that there are a lot of times where things aren’t easy for the brothers.
This story ties up all that has been happening and brings up to conclude probably about twenty years of a full life lived. There is a lot of flashback to things from Bear’s POV that were covered in The Art of Breathing, as well as flashbacks to other times in the first two books. There is particularly a lot said about perhaps the most important scene in this whole series, when Bear remembers the letter that his mother left when she abandoned both boys, two days before Bear graduated high school and changed his life (and plans) forever. Yes, there was a lot of heartache, especially as Bear has his flashbacks. There is a wonderful and zany cast of characters – Otter’s and Bear’s family – who we’ve known from the start. Creed – Bear’s best friend and Otter’s brother – has a hilarious dislike for hipsters (a great Easter egg for those that love How to Be A Normal Person by Klune). Creed’s wife, Anna, is Bear’s ex, who he was with before Otter came back on the scene and she is a total fire cracker, a pretty amazing lady. Tyson, the Kid, has gotten himself back on track, finished college and has found his man and has learnt to breathe. Another great Easter egg is fans of Klune’s At First Sight series (starting with Tell Me It’s Real) is the appearance of Kori/Corey as one of Ty’s best friends. Kori/Corey is also a friend of Paul and Vince in At First Sight and they will have their own story next year, I believe. We are teased with the beginning of that story and the moment fans of both series no doubt wanted to see – Bear meeting Vince, if only on Skype and only to see the two most neurotic characters come together in a clash of fabulousness and craziness.
I feel I can’t bring justice to this book in my words. It is so much more complicated because we are talking about the lives of Bear and Otter, but also that of at least five other people, plus the people that were lost along the way. I loved the book, from start to finish and I made so much Wookie cry face as I tried to hold back the tears, only to full on ugly cry. This was a wonderfully satisfying ending to this series. As much as I hate the idea of no more adventures from Bear and Otter, all good things must come to an end and this was absolutely perfect.
Blurb: Can Tennant show Jared that age is just a number and that love is all that matters?
The Rowe brothers are famous hockey hotshots, but as the youngest of the trio, Tennant has always had to play against his brothers’ reputations. To get out of their shadows, and against their advice, he accepts a trade to the Harrisburg Railers, where he runs into Jared Madsen. Mads is an old family friend and his brother’s one-time teammate. Mads is Tennant’s new coach. And Mads is the sexiest thing on which he’s ever laid eyes.
Jared Madsen’s hockey career was cut short by a fault in his heart, but coaching keeps him close to the game. When Ten is traded to the team, his carefully organized world is thrown into chaos. Nine years his junior and his best friend’s brother, he knows Ten is strictly off-limits, but as soon as he sees Ten’s moves, on and off the ice, he knows his heart could get him into trouble again.
Review: For me there is a long list to love Changing Lines: 1) VL Locey and RJ Scott, I adore everything these lovely ladies write, especially together. 2) Hot professional sportsmen falling in love in an open minded team. 3) I’ve already read the book and loved it completely, so I’ve been looking forward to listening to the audio. And 4) Just quietly, I also love the little things that Locey adds in because I know that she, like me, is a Doctor Who fan who totally loves David Tennant – so much so one of the main men in Changing Lanes is named after my very much beloved Matchstick Man, the 10th Doctor. Also Tennant, as well as having a penchant for Pokemon, also loves Doctor Who.
The story is about new recruit to the ice hockey team the Harrisburg Railers, Tennant Rowe. He is the youngest of the three Rowe brothers, one of the biggest names in hockey, who are some of the greatest players currently in the NHL. Ten has been traded to the Railers, a new team to the NHL, where is ready to make a name for himself and not be just the youngest Rowe brother.
The defense coach for the Railers is Jared Madsen – Mads. Before a heart defect ended his career, Mads was team mate and friend to Ten’s older brother, Brady. Mads, who is bisexual himself, is convinced of a couple things at first – that Ten is straight and that even if he weren’t, with approximately ten years between them he is too old for Mads.
In all, this is a light-hearted story set on ice. Ten and Mads are wonderful together. I love their chemistry and their relationship. The sex scenes are hot, and I enjoyed them. Mads has a very serious personality and Ten is just the person to loosen him up. I love the calamity that is Ten’s family – who are both endearing and hilarious. This was where it was clear that these guys were truly written for each other. I adore the book (and the series) as well as adoring the characters.
However, the one flaw that detracts away from the novel is that I still, despite rereading and listening to the audio book, wanted more of Ten’s public coming out as a professional hockey player who is at the beginning of his career. Mads is known by his colleagues to be bisexual so that is a non-issue, giving more time on Ten’s story.
Hi peeps, we have R.J. Scott & V.L. Locey stopping by today with the tour for their audio release Changing Lines, we have a great excerpt and a fantastic $10 Amazon GC giveaway, so check out the post and enter that giveaway! ❤ ~Pixie~ p.s. keep an eye out for Prime’s review in the next couple of days!
Changing Lines
(Harrisburg Railers 01)
by
Narrator: Sean Crisden
R.J. Scott & V.L. Locey
Can Tennant show Jared that age is just a number, and that love is all that matters?
The Rowe Brothers are famous hockey hotshots, but as the youngest of the trio, Tennant has always had to play against his brothers’ reputations. To get out of their shadows, and against their advice, he accepts a trade to the Harrisburg Railers, where he runs into Jared Madsen. Mads is an old family friend and his brother’s one-time teammate. Mads is Tennant’s new coach. And Mads is the sexiest thing he’s ever laid eyes on.
Jared Madsen’s hockey career was cut short by a fault in his heart, but coaching keeps him close to the game. When Ten is traded to the team, his carefully organized world is thrown into chaos. Nine years his junior and his best friend’s brother, he knows Ten is strictly off-limits, but as soon as he sees Ten’s moves, on and off the ice, he knows that his heart could get him into trouble again.
Title: The Long and Winding Road
Title: Changing Lines
